AN

woop woop, one last OC to introduce and then I'm done, I swear. well... I'm kinda writing as I go so like... really I can't make any promises.

anyways, enjoy!

As he closed the hatch behind them he heard a cacophony from the other prison ship.Aeliana gave him a dry look, "what did you do?"

"I didn't-" Hiccup held his hands in surrender, "Gaius and Breha are over there, we should help them."

No sooner than the words left his mouth did the previously mentioned burst from the hatch. Breha fired wildly down behind them and Gaius screeched at the dragons, "don't fire, you'll burn the whole ship with us on it!"

"oh, so I didn't exactly inspire any grace or professionalism in my absence, I assume?" she looked over at the two soldiers and their dragons as several of Drago's men followed them out of the hull.

"oh, of course not, never," Hiccup sighed, "we'll head over to help them, you stay here and-"

"you're not going anywhere."

The prison ship was low but a gangplank did connect it to a main ship. Hiccup readied his sword and stood in front of Aeliana. He would take a hit for her in a heartbeat, she was injured enough and to him she was still his Praetor. Verlin levelled an arrow on the man that sauntered down the gangplank. Toothless growled and lowered to his haunches. The man was so obviously a Viking it almost made Hiccup puke. He could practically smell him. Blue paint was drawn along his chin- or they could have been tattoos- and his clothing mimicked the style. He finally stepped off the plank and onto the ship, smirk splitting his face.

"there's one of you, and three of us," Verlin warned, "don't make this harder for yourself."

"I'll take my chances, southerner."

"care to introduce yourself?" Hiccup snipped, keeping half a mind on Gaius, Breha, Tylac and Ex and Plode as they fought off the other goons. They were doing just fine, but there were so many they'd be preoccupied for a while.

The stranger let out a barking laugh, he bowed with a hand to his chest, glad to show off, "I am Eret, son of Eret," he slid a sword from a sheath behind his back, "finest dragon trapper alive."

"nice to meet you," Hiccup drawled as Eret levelled his sword on him, "we have places to be, things to do, you know how it is. How about you just let us be on our way. I'm sure you'd prefer that to having your body cleaved from thigh to clavicle."

Eret barked his laugh again, shook his head, "oh, you're funny, Mister Dragon, Sir Master, whatever the short form to Dragon Master is."

Hiccup rolled his eyes. It would seem Johan's stories had spread more successfully than he thought.

"but, no dragon escapes me," Eret hissed, and he charged them with a battle cry.

.

Annabella was nine years old when the dragon trappers invaded her home. Nowadays when someone called her a 'poor girl who'd seen so much in her nine Summers' she would defiantly claim 'nine and a half!'

Her mother was one of the local seamstresses, she had a shop in the centre of the city with rows of gorgeous materials and multi-coloured threads and scattered papers with clothing patterns. Some of it had spilled into their family home and Anne's father would often be complaining about how little room there was for his books. They usually evened it out with the promise that they would soon organise to have a new study added to the home.

Eventually. On Anne's ninth birthday they gave her a new cape. It was red like a legionnaire's and had a cool hood and gold trimmings and satin lining. It was one of her prized possessions, along with her book from the ancient library with the leather cover and bronze clasps that her father bought after she'd borrowed it past the deadline.

(it was actually a book about sailing, with fancy pictures and words, but sometimes she pretended it was about mermaids)

And then two days later a Viking burst into her home and threw her parents in one of the prison blocks. She hadn't seen them in months. When she and the other kids were being marched to the outer rims she'd seen her Uncle Finnian. As soon as he'd laid eyes on her he struggled against the guards around him and ran for her. The Vikings grabbed him and shoved him to his knees in the mud and slit his throat from one side to the other.

And it made her angry.

Angry enough to scream, to shout, to cry as she prayed to every god she could think and asked them why was this happening, why did these people hate them so much, why couldn't they have peace?

She saw how they treated dragons and she started to figure it out.

They were scared.Just as scared as she was when she lashed out against the guards. Just as scared as she was when she screamed at her fellow captives when she was riled up. Just as scared as she was when she looked to the gods for help.Maybe they had buried it beneath pain and violence and a mask of fake strength and valour. But she saw through it, she saw the fear. They were cowards. Cowards fighting a dishonourable war that would accomplish nothing but sad memories and bent heads around a fire when songs of pain and suffering were sung.

She felt sorry for them. But that did not stop her from being angry.So when she heard the Roman legions were coming to save them she knelt in her cell and she prayed. She did not cast her mind to any deity who would answer; just the one. She thought on everything she'd seen in the past months, the horror and the violence and the death. The mounting numbers and descending lives. And she did not just pray.

She dared to accuse.

And as the wall of the outer city rim buckled beneath the romans, Mars appeared before Anne and she asked him for one thing.To help.

"it's what you owe us," she said.

"do you know the price?" he asked.

"more than many."

The Vikings never stood a chance.

.

Charlotte's sword was light. The Archer's aim was true. The shield wall held. The flanks stayed strong. The dragons' flame blew hot. Their armour stayed light. their muscles did not scream. The combat sung with the clash of metal, the battle cries of the fighting, the glory of the soldiers marching on unmatched and unstoppable as they took metre upon metre of land.

Charlotte stood by Caeris with the council of officers around her. Atticus finished his report of the day's fighting with a hopeful tone. They could do this, they could succeed.

"this is good, the plan is working, we just need to-"

"stop! Little girl, n-"

"Praetor!"

Charlotte stood straight from where she leaned against the table they'd set their plans out. Several legionnaires moved out of the way as their circle was broken by a little girl bursting through and a centurion following behind.

"I'm sorry, officers, I-"

"Praetor!" the girl interrupted, "I need to speak to a Praetor!"

"I'm-""

It's okay," Charlotte held up a hand with a smile to the centurion, she crouched before the little girl, "what can I do for you?"

The child blinked, seemingly surprised it had been that easy, "I- I prayed," she swallowed, "I prayed to Mars."

Charlotte gave her a kind smile and placed her hand on her shoulder, "thank you, we appreciate it."

"no, no I..." she steeled her face and stood straight, "I gave an offering, and he appeared. He said he'd help you, help you fix this, help you save us."

Charlotte blinked, the officers behind her gasped, Atticus whispered the same word she did, "what?"

.

"so no Dragon gets by you, huh?"

"Shut up."

Gaius finished tying up the last of his and Breha's goons on the other ship. Verlin stood over Eret with an arrow knocked and ready. Aeliana gloated, sitting cross legged in front of Eret whose arms were tied behind his back and had his legs tied together under him.

Hiccup snorted, picking up Eret's sword and handing it to Aeliana."do you think you can walk?"

"oh, yeah," she rolled her eyes, "the question is how well and for how long. I could do with a nap."

"alright, well let's just get out of here," Hiccup sighed, "we'll catch you up on the plan along the way."

"there's a plan?" Aeliana raised an eyebrow, "wow, good job."

Verlin snickered.Breha and Gaius landed on the deck. Verlin kept his arrow trained on Eret till he reached his dragon's side, he finally put his arrow back in the quiver at his hip and hauled himself into the saddle.

"who's this?" asked Breha.

"I am E-"

"shut up."Eret blinked and Aeliana gave him a withering glare.

"but-"

"sh."

Hiccup rolled his eyes, "we can't leave him here, he'll blab what little he knows to Drago and even that is too much."

"I'll take him on Tylac, Aeliana can go with you," Gaius offered, "once we're not otherwise preoccupied we can attempt an interrogation."

"good plan," Hiccup offered Aeliana a hand and helped haul her to her feet, "if we move our asses we should meet up with Charlotte and the rest of the legions before they break the third wall of the citadel."

.

"we have a chance at succeeding and ridding Rome of Drago before he can even make the mainland."

"yes."

"but if we follow the plan and take this chance entirely..." Atticus trailed as he stared at the floor between his feet, "a girl's entire soul becomes property of a god of war."

"yes."

"we can't." Viriel sat backwards on a chair- Charlotte had almost forgotten the Praetor of the eighth legion couldn't sit in a damn chair properly- he frowned at the floor as well.

"and if we don't then we'll either have to sit here in the outer circle till 'it doesn't count' or make a complete retreat and start all over- and who knows how long it will take before we can fight again," charlotte reasoned, "she made the sacrifice knowingly, at this point taking it would be honouring her."

"she's nine!" Viriel combatted, head snapping up from the top of the chair where it rested.

"and a half," Jera mumbled, remembering the sweet child who'd been so strong during the entire explanation of what happened. She was Praetor of the eighth legion, had been for about a decade now, and the sight of such an optimistic youngling was wildly different to the attitude of most of the children she met on the job.

"exactly," Atticus supported, looking up from the floor as well to stare at Charlotte, "she's young, there's no way she fully understands what she's getting into, we can't just let her throw her life into service."

"how much older were you when you decided to start training to join the military?" Charlotte fired back solemnly. She stood against the wall of the building they held this meeting in- an old community hall of some kind, surprisingly small. There was an impromptu Praetorium setup in the main part of the hall and the four of them were holding their extra conversation outside the ring of chairs around the table, tucked in the corner.

"that was... different," he sighed, at Charlotte's raised brow he surged on, "I wasn't offering my life up as a servant to an ageless deity of war, just signing up for the army."

"you made that choice, you can't take her ability to make this one." Charlotte slumped her shoulders, "look, I don't like it either. I don't want it to happen. But this is our best chance. If we don't take this now hundreds more lives hang in the balance. With a blessing as strong as this we could get rid of Drago before he's even caused a problem big enough to be considered war."

"so we go with the lesser evil?" Viriel commented, "lesser is still evil. It's still wrong. She's desperate, she'll do anything to save her family and people."

"and so would we." Charlotte swallowed, "we've been doing everything we could for the past seven months, giving everything we can. The gods haven't intervened till now, this is our chance to finish this before it becomes a catastrophe."

Viriel ran his hand through his raven-black hair, "we can't, we just can't, she's a child."

Charlotte sighed through her nose, Atticus remained silent.

"Jera, tell her."

Jera clenched her jaw and looked up to Charlotte, stretching her legs in front of her and looking down them to the wood grain below her.

"Jera, please."She did not speak.Viriel looked horrified, stood from the chair, "Jera!"

"Viriel," she sighed, "what would you propose we do otherwise?"

"anything! We can hold this position till Mars moves off, we can lay siege to the city from the outside, we can setup camp and wait for the blessing to become null, anything to mean this girl does not have to sacrifice her own free will to-"

"one girl saves hundreds, millions, of lives." Jera stared into her fellow Praetor's eyes, "you would make the same sacrifice."

"but she is a child."

"yes."

"she's not even dying," he looked to Atticus for support, he was still analysing the floor, he found none so he moved on, "she'd be without her own choice in life, she'd have to do whatever Mars wanted of her here on earth. She'd be a servant."

Charlotte and Jera shared a look, and Viriel could feel his sway slipping.

"we can't just let this happen, it's not right!"

"Vir," Atticus sighed, "it may still be wrong, but sometimes-"

"no."

"killing people is a lesser evil Vir," Charlotte cut in, "everything we have done so far to end this has been a lesser evil. She may be young but her experiences have aged her. She has made this choice of her own volition and her sacrifice will save so many. Not just people in this city, but this province, this whole damned empire."

Vir collapsed on the floor, held his head in his hands, "we can't."

A hand slid onto his shoulder, "Vir."He looked up to see Atticus, on his knees at his side,

"we can't."

"Vir, it is wrong. It is horrible. But this is war, sometimes the hard choices have to be made. They may not be right, but they are effective."

Vir opened his mouth to continue but noticed a shadow move.The door creaked open on the other side of the hall. Standing in the opening was a small shape, a child in a hood.She walked over to their meeting quietly and sat on Viriel's other side.

"Annabella," he greeted.She gave him a small smile.

"there is no waiting till mars leaves," she whispered, "the battle has started, it's your turn to make sure my decision matters."

There was silence, drawn out and threadbare."this is bigger than you and me, I've seen it." she looked into Viriel's eyes but he felt like they pierced past him. She'd already made her bargain with Mars and now she was something strange and different, on the verge of becoming a nameless being. Not demigod or champion, priestess or nymph. She would just be different and that was that.

"what do you mean?" Charlotte asked, leaning off the wall.

"I mean, get Drago out of Rome and quickly, because something bad is coming," she turned back to Viriel, eyes wide, "the gods can sense it. someone powerful is meddling with things they shouldn't be. you don't have time to be occupied with Drago, you need to be making yourselves ready for a much bigger threat."

"who?" Jera asked, "what is it?"

Anne looked confused for a moment, knitting her eyebrows with her lips pursed like she was listening to someone but having trouble making out what they were saying or making sense of it.

"I don't know, they don't know." Viriel wanted to hug this poor girl, "they just say to ask the boy who the underworld gives favour. They say he may figure it out. that they have something planned for him."

"Hiccup?" Atticus asked, worry creeping in, "what do they want with Hiccup?"

Anne frowned, listening, thinking, "I don't know."

"you have to know something, he's my-"

"friend, yes," she smiled, "he is your friend. Keep hold of him, he'll need it. and tell him to ask about the children, you've always got to watch out for the children."And then she feinted into Viriel's arms.

.

Jupiter did not care about the nature gods. He did not listen to them. they prattled about imbalances, magic in fluctuation, the possibility of something bad far in the future. He did not care. They worried over occurrences in the north, Jupiter did not care about the north. They talked about magic acting out, he was not a magic god. He didn't care about imbalances and magic. He cared about the fact dragons were allowed to exist in his skies, in his empire. He'd care about leading and being a king and keeping the gods in check after he'd wiped every dragon off the earth.

He paid off Somnus' munchkins to keep things quiet. Somnus himself either didn't know or had decided to pretend he didn't. Pluto had not caught on to Somnus' treason.So his only loose end, the only thing he cared to worry about, was Drago Bludvist and his eternal insufferability.

The man paced the deck and screamed orders to his men. Jupiter watched in amusement. When Drago was done he turned and stormed to the captain's quarters. The boardwalk rocked under his weight as he crossed from one ship to the next. Jupiter despised this make-up of boats, an amalgamation held together like a village on water. Unhygienic and tearing at the seams. It went against everything the Romans stood for. But he could deal with it. for now.

Because this plan was not running as smoothly as one would expect. Half their damn camp was asleep, knocked out, out of commition. And they sent Drago's men running. Normally he'd be proud, heck, boastful. But it was the worst time for it. This plan of his relied on using Drago as a scapegoat to protect him from anyone looking too closely, the longer this drew out the harder it would be.

Drago stormed past him into his quarters and Jupiter slipped in behind him. He crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall. He may be tearing his hair out internally but there was no need to let Drago onto that.

Drago turned and stabbed a finger at him, "you said it would work, that they'd crumble in seconds!"

"I didn't know they had a warlock on their front lines," He answered smoothly, "but who cares?"

"I'm stuck back where I started, on the northern tip of this scrap of land that barely counts towards this empire!" he scowled, "You best give me a reason to not kill you."

Jupiter shook his head and smirked, "relax." He stood straight, "I have a plan."